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Digicel Fiji today announced a slash in call rates to 5 cents every 30 seconds on its pre-paid business, with rival Vodafone remaining unfazed.
The new price applies only to inter-Digicel network calls and text messages but without any time restrictions during the day.
Digicel Fiji CEO Matt Davey said the new rate structure is aimed at cutting across the confusion caused by countless promotions and short-term offers in the market.
“They do it for a limited time and it doesn’t always suit the customer,” Davey said.
“It’s all become pretty confusing so we just want to make it simple with 5 cent calls and 5 cent texts any time.”
The company has also slashed call rates to other networks and landlines to 20 cents every 30 seconds following last month’s Fiji Commerce Commission directive for mobile operators in Fiji to reduce interconnection rates from 28 cents to 23 cents effective immediately and gradually to 11.5 cents over three years.
Vodafone CEO Aslam Khan told FijiLive that the Digicel announcement was “no big deal”.
Khan said Vodafone’s recharge bonanza of $25 matched the Digicel offer and was even better when calls are made during “off peak” hours (between 7pm and 7am daily and all weekend from 7pm Friday to 7am Monday).
Calls made during “peak hours” (7am to 7pm Monday-Friday) by a customer who purchases a $25 Vodafone recharge is charged the same rate Digicel is offering, which is 5 cents every 30 seconds.
However, calls made during “off-peak” hours are charged at 3.6 cents every 30 seconds, which Khan says “is a better deal”.
Khan said their recharge bonanzas have 180-day validities, while Digicel only give 90-day validity to customers.
Digicel’s push into the Pacific is being backed mainly by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the financing arm of the World Bank.
The IFC supplied one-quarter of the capital of Digicel’s setup in both Samoa and Papua New Guinea before the company moved to Fiji.
